Twenty-five players signed

March 3, 2012by rob biertempfel

DUNEDIN, Fla. — The Pirates signed 25 players to one-year contracts. These guys are all pre-arbitration-eligible, so the team essentially can set their salaries. The team doesn’t release the dollar figures (which usually are not much higher than the $480,000 major league minimum) but those will trickle out over the course of the next few weeks. And just because a player is signed today — I’m thinking here of Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker — doesn’t mean they can’t rip up the contract and agree to a multi-year deal.

»»» Infielder Jeremy Farrell is on the travel list for today’s game. His father, John Farrell, is in his second year as Blue Jays manager. The Pirates are bringing three other minor leaguers: pitchers Ryan Beckman, Michael Dubee and Jose Diaz.

There will be no family reunion today for the d’Arnaud brothers, though. Chase, the Pirates infielder, did not make the trip to Dunedin. Travis d’Arnaud is a catcher in his first spring training camp with the Jays. Chase is older by two years than Travis.